2017 Roster Discussion

[Kjbert]

I don't see how Shelton continues to fit on this squad with the acquisition of Okoli and now multiple wide players.

He's a natural CF with a crappy first touch. He genuinely is a decent hold up player but he can't play wide. He's a situational gamebreaker but I don't see the fit anymore. REALLY disappointed in his development.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I don't see how Shelton continues to fit on this squad with the acquisition of Okoli and now multiple wide players.

He's a natural CF with a crappy first touch. He genuinely is a decent hold up player but he can't play wide. He's a situational gamebreaker but I don't see the fit anymore. REALLY disappointed in his development.

I strongly agree with everything except you calling him a decent holdup player. I think he's a shitty hold-up player, too. Watch him in the Olympic qualifiers when they put him central. Hot stankin' garbage. And he's so brain dead about positioning.

 

[Kjbert]

I strongly agree with everything except you calling him a decent holdup player. I think he's a shitty hold-up player, too. Watch him in the Olympic qualifiers when they put him central. Hot stankin' garbage. And he's so brain dead about positioning.

We'll have to disagree. There were times last year where we struggled to play out of the back and PV subbed him on as a RW so we could hoof the ball down the field to him and break the press.

All that being said, I have never seen him play as a CF outside of the combine. So you may be right.

 

[Kjbert]

Is James Sands our best holding midfielder? The kid can play in MLS right now.

 

[JGarrettLieb]

I strongly agree with everything except you calling him a decent holdup player. I think he's a shitty hold-up player, too. Watch him in the Olympic qualifiers when they put him central. Hot stankin' garbage. And he's so brain dead about positioning.

When PV said that he could be the best player in MLS I think there was a contextual piece missing from that statement.

PV didn't understand the United States' ability to churn out hyper athletic genetic freaks. Futher he didn't understand the deep and vast strength+endurance training knowledge that is pervasive in the States; at even the high school level. I think it was in the mid 2000's when Europe realized how vast the gulf in knowledge was and after that basically every strength and conditioning coach in major European clubs was American for a few years.

Flipside of that, is that PV didn't truly understand how hilariously terrible the tactical knowledge base is in the states. There basically wasn't any real teaching going on until MLS clubs started their academies. And that was comparatively very recently, Khirey wasn't really a beneficiary.

If you want a 6'3+ 300+ lb guy to run a 40 in 4.5 seconds, here have every D lineman in the NFL, we can make more than that if you really need one. But if you want someone trained in decent soccer tactics, not don't pass it backwards, good luck gentlemen.

 

[snugglefarts]

Is James Sands our best holding midfielder? The kid can play in MLS right now.

He may give Herrera a run for his money.

 

[George]

Suddenly our roster is looking really good. Both starting 11 and depth are better than last year imo if you consider we were without Harrison, Lampard, Chanot for long periods.

Starter
Can play this position although best position is elsewhere

GK
Johnson (27)
Johansen (24)
Rawls (25)

LB
Mataritta (22)
Allen (26)
Wallace (28)
Awuah (21)

RB
Allen (26)
Gomez (20)
Chanot (27)
White (26)

CB
Chanot (27)
Brilliant (31)
Callens (24)
White (26)

CDM:
Ring (25)
Herrera (19)
Sands (16)
Wingate? (22)
Awuah (21)
Lopez (23)

I think Ring is our starter here even if he has played more at CM. You don't spend the amount of money they did on him without him being an intended starter.

CM:
Pirlo (37)
Ring (25)
TMac (26)
Awuah (21)
Herrera (19)
Lopez (23)

CAM/CF:
Moralez (29)
TMac (26)
Ring (25)
Herrera (19)

The alternative would be not having a CAM as such and instead playing a CDM and 2 CM. Something like Herrera; Ring, Pirlo.

LW:
Wallace (28)
Lewis (19)
Moralez (29)
Shelton (23)
TMac (26)

RW:
Harrison (20)
Shelton (23)
Brown (22)
Moralez (29)

ST:
Villa (35)
Okoli (24)
Moralez (29)

I did this about a month ago and thought an expected finish with that squad would have been 4th/5th in the eastern conference. Now I believe that this team is better than last years and could win the supporters shield/MLS cup.

What happens with the midfield will be what interests me most as I thought the rest was much more obvious who would be starting. Hopefully Moralez is hard working otherwise whoever is playing next to/behind Pirlo will have a lot of work to do trying hold together the midfield.

 

[SayWhat44]

Suddenly our roster is looking really good. Both starting 11 and depth are better than last year imo if you consider we were without Harrison, Lampard, Chanot for long periods.

Starter
Can play this position although best position is elsewhere

GK
Johnson (27)
Johansen (24)
Rawls (25)

LB
Mataritta (22)
Allen (26)
Wallace (28)
Awuah (21)

RB
Allen (26)
Gomez (20)
Chanot (27)
White (26)

CB
Chanot (27)
Brilliant (31)
Callens (24)
White (26)

CDM:
Ring (25)
Herrera (19)
Sands (16)
Wingate? (22)
Awuah (21)
Lopez (23)

I think Ring is our starter here even if he has played more at CM. You don't spend the amount of money they did on him without him being an intended starter.

CM:
Pirlo (37)
Ring (25)
TMac (26)
Awuah (21)
Herrera (19)
Lopez (23)

CAM/CF:
Moralez (29)
TMac (26)
Ring (25)
Herrera (19)

The alternative would be not having a CAM as such and instead playing a CDM and 2 CM. Something like Herrera; Ring, Pirlo.

LW:
Wallace (28)
Lewis (19)
Moralez (29)
Shelton (23)
TMac (26)

RW:
Harrison (20)
Shelton (23)
Brown (22)
Moralez (29)

ST:
Villa (35)
Okoli (24)
Moralez (29)

I did this about a month ago and thought an expected finish with that squad would have been 4th/5th in the eastern conference. Now I believe that this team is better than last years and could win the supporters shield/MLS cup.

What happens with the midfield will be what interests me most as I thought the rest was much more obvious who would be starting. Hopefully Moralez is hard working otherwise whoever is playing next to/behind Pirlo will have a lot of work to do trying hold together the midfield.

Pirlo might be the weak link in the lineup. Lewis will get a lot of playing time along with Wallace. But I agree Wallace as the starter and when Lewis steps in Wallace will still play as LB. Also after watching yesterday's game it's clear Erik still isn't ready and SJ is the clear starter.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

We'll have to disagree. There were times last year where we struggled to play out of the back and PV subbed him on as a RW so we could hoof the ball down the field to him and break the press.

All that being said, I have never seen him play as a CF outside of the combine. So you may be right.

I think he is above average winning long balls, it's just that I don't have confidence that anything can come of it.

ETA - Also, I think he may be lacking an edge or confidence or something. I just can't believe anyone's touch could be that bad, otherwise, how does he get through training.

 

[mgarbowski]

ETA - Also, I think he may be lacking an edge or confidence or something. I just can't believe anyone's touch could be that bad, otherwise, how does he get through training.

This is consistent with a lot of the PV comments about him (and maybe DV as well) over the past year. I remember multiple statements that he needs to show the confidence to match his abilities. I get the sense he worries so much he will do the wrong thing he freezes which is worse.

 

[SayWhat44]

Best case scenario for Shelton is we send him to San Antonio for a season. I think he's originally from Texas anyway so it'll be a homecoming for him.

 

[Kjbert]

Best case scenario for Shelton is we send him to San Antonio for a season. I think he's originally from Texas anyway so it'll be a homecoming for him.

Are you saying he's our Jack Wilshere?

 

[Sabo]

So you think we'll trade him midseason and he'll then find his scoring touch?

So you think we'll trade him midseason and he'll then find his scoring touch?

Mullins is a good player (and given our spending this year we may have gotten some decent GAM/TAM for him) but remember how he played for us in 2016. He was trying so hard to win a starting spot and minutes that he was constantly trying to turn half chances into spectacular goals instead of making smart plays that could turn into better chances. Khiry looked like he was doing the same thing going back into his 1 v 3 in traffic habits and trying to be spectacular attacking the goal (failing miserably) to catch the Coach's eye.

 

[SayWhat44]

Mullins is a good player (and given our spending this year we may have gotten some decent GAM/TAM for him) but remember how he played for us in 2016. He was trying so hard to win a starting spot and minutes that he was constantly trying to turn half chances into spectacular goals instead of making smart plays that could turn into better chances. Khiry looked like he was doing the same thing going back into his 1 v 3 in traffic habits and trying to be spectacular attacking the goal (failing miserably) to catch the Coach's eye.

He's spectacular at running right into defenders. World class actually.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

He's spectacular at running right into defenders. World class actually.

He's only chasing the ball, which is the right thing to do, frankly.

 

[bxsully]

Agree with all the Shelton talk, needs a lot of development still and not sure he's going to get it with us with all the new additions. He's clearly incredibly athletic but he knows as well as we do how limited his skill set is. As a result he's scared to go full speed and tip toes around the game. Unfortunately, when he does something positive he's going full speed despite his skill set and stumbles into something such as his opening game goal in Chicago last year or his shoulder goal in DC.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Here is where we stand per MLS website:
ROSTERED PLAYERS (24 of 28 spots filled):
GK (3): Eirik Johansen (INT'L), Sean Johnson, Andre Rawls
DEF (7): RJ Allen, Frederic Brillant (INT'L), Alexander Callens (INT'L), Maxime Chanot (INT'L), Shannon Gomez, Ronald Matarrita (INT'L), Ethan White
MID (10): Miguel Camargo (INT'L), Mix Diskerud, Jack Harrison (GA, INT'L), Yangel Herrera (INT'L), Mikey Lopez, Tommy McNamara, Maximiliano Moralez (INT'L, DP), Andrea Pirlo (INT'L, DP), Alexander Ring (INT'L), Rodney Wallace
FWD (4): Jonathan Lewis (GA), Sean Okoli, Khiry Shelton, David Villa (DP, INT'L)

DESIGNATED PLAYERS (DP): 3
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS (HG): 0
INT'L ROSTER SPOTS FILLED (INT'L): 12
GENERATION ADIDAS PLAYERS (GA): 2
UNSIGNED DRAFT PICKS: Kwame Awuah, Jalen Brown, Chris Wingate, Michael DeGraffenriedt
TRIALISTS: Ben Sweat, John Stertzer, Roberto Louima

We know Louima & DeGraff are gone. Mix, too(?).

This leaves us room to sign Awuah and Sands (the latter of whom they don't mention, which makes me want to question the whole thing, but I digress) and still only be at 25. Maybe Brown and Wingate make it. That still leaves 1 slot (2 if Sands is one & qualifies as hg -ht Ulrich). What else can we do?

 

[bxsully]

I saw this too, also says we have 12 international spots filled, does this mean we have 12 or we still need one more and 12 and of our guys need international spots

 

[Gotham Gator]

Picking out our Starting XI is back to being a fun exercise this year, and for all the right reasons. In our first season, we changed the lineup around a lot because we were crap. Last season it was pretty locked down most weeks. This season, we have so much more depth, and so many players who can play multiple positions that you could come up with a dozen credible lineups and still not get the right one.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Here is where we stand per MLS website:
ROSTERED PLAYERS (24 of 28 spots filled):
GK (3): Eirik Johansen (INT'L), Sean Johnson, Andre Rawls
DEF (7): RJ Allen, Frederic Brillant (INT'L), Alexander Callens (INT'L), Maxime Chanot (INT'L), Shannon Gomez, Ronald Matarrita (INT'L), Ethan White
MID (10): Miguel Camargo (INT'L), Mix Diskerud, Jack Harrison (GA, INT'L), Yangel Herrera (INT'L), Mikey Lopez, Tommy McNamara, Maximiliano Moralez (INT'L, DP), Andrea Pirlo (INT'L, DP), Alexander Ring (INT'L), Rodney Wallace
FWD (4): Jonathan Lewis (GA), Sean Okoli, Khiry Shelton, David Villa (DP, INT'L)

DESIGNATED PLAYERS (DP): 3
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS (HG): 0
INT'L ROSTER SPOTS FILLED (INT'L): 12
GENERATION ADIDAS PLAYERS (GA): 2
UNSIGNED DRAFT PICKS: Kwame Awuah, Jalen Brown, Chris Wingate, Michael DeGraffenriedt
TRIALISTS: Ben Sweat, John Stertzer, Roberto Louima

We know Louima & DeGraff are gone. Mix, too(?).

This leaves us room to sign Awuah and Sands (the latter of whom they don't mention, which makes me want to question the whole thing, but I digress) and still only be at 25. Maybe Brown and Wingate make it. That still leaves 1 slot. What else can we do?

I'd like to have another CB for depth, but that's about it